Model-Based Specification of Integrated Modular Avionics Systems using Object-Process Methodology

The complexity of modern aerospace systems is overwhelming. This is particularly true for Integrated Modular Avionics systems, in which the roles of module, applications, system, and aircraft development are decoupled from each other and may be performed by different organizations. One of the key factors to success is the ability to define clear, concise, and unambiguous specifications at the various levels of development. There is a significant amount of research on the Model-Based Systems Engineering field addressing system specifications, with different methodologies and modeling languages, with varying levels of formality and complexity. One of these is the Object-Process Methodology (OPM), which has recently been standardized as ISO 19450. OPM is gaining acceptance in several systems engineering domains due to its simplicity and clarity. This paper investigates the use of OPM to model a DO-297-compliant Integrated Modular Avionics system specification, from aircraft-level functions to module-level requirements. Challenges specific to the compliance of DO-297 objectives are analyzed and compared to equivalent models in SysML and AADL.